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Out of Print:Reimagining the K-12Textbook in a Digital Age

www.setda.org
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About the State Educa onal Technology Directors Associa on

Founded in the fall of 2001, the State Educa onal Technology Directors Associa on (SETDA) is the principalassocia on serving, suppor ng, and represen ng US state and territorial educa onal technology leadership.SETDA works in partnership with like-minded individuals and organiza ons as a forum for inter-statecollabora on, coopera on, and best prac ces. Our work is funded by state membership dues, private sectorcontribu ons, charitable founda ons, and the federal government.

h p://www.setda.org/

SETDA 2012-2013 Board of Directors

Je Mao, Learning Technology Policy Director, Maine Department of Educa on , Chair

Melinda Stanley, Educa onal Technology Consultant, Kansas State Department of Educa on , Vice Chair

Cathy Poplin, Deputy Associate Superintendent for Educa onal Technology, Arizona Department of Educa on , Treasurer

Rick Gaisford, Educa onal Technology Specialist, Utah State O ce of Educa on , Secretary

Laurence Cocco, Director, O ce of Educa onal Technology, New Jersey

Peter Drescher, Educa on Technology Coordinator, Vermont Department of Educa on

Karen Kahan, Director, Educa onal Technology, Texas

Neill Kimrey, Director, Instruc onal Technology, North Carolina Department of Public Instruc on

David Walddon, Educa onal Technology Consultant, Emeritus

Report Authors

Geo rey FletcherDian Scha auser

Douglas Levin

Suggested Cita on: Fletcher, G., Scha auser, D, & Levin, D. (2012). Out of Print: Reimagining the K-12Textbook in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: State Educa onal Technology Directors Associa on (SETDA).

This work is licensed under the Crea ve Commons A ribu on 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of thislicense, visit h p://crea vecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a le er to Crea ve Commons, 171 SecondStreet, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
http://www.setda.org/http://www.maine.gov/doe/http://www.ksde.org/http://www.azed.gov/educational-technology/http://www.azed.gov/educational-technology/http://www.schools.utah.gov/main/http://www.nj.gov/education/techno/http://education.vermont.gov/http://www.tea.state.tx.us/http://www.ncwiseowl.org/impact/div_it/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/http://www.ncwiseowl.org/impact/div_it/http://www.tea.state.tx.us/http://education.vermont.gov/http://www.nj.gov/education/techno/http://www.schools.utah.gov/main/http://www.azed.gov/educational-technology/http://www.azed.gov/educational-technology/http://www.ksde.org/http://www.maine.gov/doe/http://www.setda.org/


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Credits & Acknowledgments

With support from the William and Flora Hewle Founda on , this report was launched during workingsessions at the 2011 SETDA Leadership Summit in November 2011. Under the able direc on of Dr. Geo reyFletcher, SETDA Deputy Execu ve Director, this report is a product of input from SETDAs working group,comprised of SETDA state members and corporate sponsors and policy and prac oner experts. DianScha auser provided the papers dra and some research to support the papers content. Along with the

working group, we would like to thank our external reviewers and contributors for their helpful commentsand insights, including:

John Bailey , Execu ve Director of Digital Learning Now, Founda on for Excellence in Educa on

David Byer , Senior Manager, Educa on Leadership and Policy, Apple, Inc.

Jennifer Childress , Senior Advisor, Science, Achieve

Ed Dieterle , Senior Program O cer for Research, Bill & Melinda Gates Founda on

Karen Fasimpaur , President, K12 Handh elds & Organizer, Peer 2 Peer School of Educa on

Diana Gowen , Alliance Manager, Strategic Educa on Programs, Intel

Kelly Gri n , Director, Distribu on and Accessibility, Instruc onal Materials and Educa onal TechnologySta , Texas Educa on Agency

Greg Grossmeier , Educa on Technology and Policy Coordinator, Crea ve Commons

Andrs Henrquez , Program O cer, Na onal Program, Carnegie Corpora on of New York

Chuck Hitchcock , Chief O cer, Policy and Technology & Director, Na onal Center on AccessibleInstruc onal Materials at CAST

Karen Kahan , Director, Educa onal Technology, Texas Educa on Agency

John Keller , Assistant Superintendent for Technology, Indiana Department of Educa on

Glenn Kleiman , Execu ve Director, Friday Ins tute for Educa onal Innova on , North Carolina StateUniversity College of Educa on

Julie Mathiesen , Director, Technology and Innova on in Educa on , South Dakota

Je Mao , Learning Technology Policy Director, Maine Department of Educa on

Tammy McGraw , Director, O ce of Educa onal Technology, Virginia Department of Educa on

Whitney Meagher , Project Director, Na onal Associa on of State Boards of Educa on

Margo Murphy , O ce of College & Career Readiness , Louisiana Department of Educa on

Steve Nordmark , Chief Academic O cer, Knova on

Jose Ortega , Administrator, Educa on Technology O ce, California Department of Educa on

Jesse Paprocki , Regional Vice President, North American Business Development, School Systems,Pearson

Nancy Perkins , Vice Chair, Maine State Board of Educa on

Linda Pi enger , Network Director, Next Genera on Learners, Council of Chief State School O cers

Rusty Rosenkoe er , Coordinator, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Educa on
http://www.hewlett.org/http://excelined.org/http://www.apple.com/http://www.achieve.org/http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspxhttp://www.k12handhelds.com/index.phphttp://www.k12handhelds.com/index.phphttps://p2pu.org/en/https://p2pu.org/en/http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/homepage.htmlhttp://www.tea.state.tx.us/index.aspxhttp://creativecommons.org/http://carnegie.org/http://aim.cast.org/http://aim.cast.org/http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index.aspxhttp://www.doe.in.gov/https://www.fi.ncsu.edu/http://ced.ncsu.edu/http://ced.ncsu.edu/http://www.tie.net/http://www.maine.gov/doe/http://www.doe.virginia.gov/https://nasbe.org/http://www.louisianaschools.net/offices/ccr/http://www.doe.state.la.us/http://www.knovationlearning.com/http://www.cde.ca.gov/http://www.pearson.com/http://www.maine.gov/sbe/http://www.ccsso.org/http://dese.mo.gov/http://dese.mo.gov/http://www.ccsso.org/http://www.maine.gov/sbe/http://www.pearson.com/http://www.cde.ca.gov/http://www.knovationlearning.com/http://www.doe.state.la.us/http://www.louisianaschools.net/offices/ccr/https://nasbe.org/http://www.doe.virginia.gov/http://www.maine.gov/doe/http://www.tie.net/http://ced.ncsu.edu/http://ced.ncsu.edu/https://www.fi.ncsu.edu/http://www.doe.in.gov/http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index.aspxhttp://aim.cast.org/http://aim.cast.org/http://carnegie.org/http://creativecommons.org/http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index.aspxhttp://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/homepage.htmlhttps://p2pu.org/en/http://www.k12handhelds.com/index.phphttp://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspxhttp://www.achieve.org/http://www.apple.com/http://excelined.org/http://www.hewlett.org/


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iiOut of Print: Reimagining the K-12 Textbook in a Digital Age | SETDA | www.setda.org

Elizabeth Ross , Common Core State Standards, Na onal Associa on of State Boards of Educa on

Stephen Sanders , Director, Instruc onal Media and Technology, Wisconsin Department of PublicInstruc on

David Teeter , Director of Policy, Interna onal Associa on for K-12 Online Learning

Bill Tucker , Deputy Director, Policy Development, U.S. Program Policy & Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates

Founda onVictor Vuchic , Program O cer in Educa on Technology and Innova on, The William and Flora Hewle

Founda on

David Wiley , Senior Fellow, Digital Promise & Associate Professor of Instruc onal Psychology andTechnology, Brigham Young University

Tom Woodward , Assistant Director, Instruc onal Technology, Henrico County Public Schools , Virginia

Peter Zamora , Director of Federal Rela ons, Council of Chief State School O cers

Statements and views expressed herein are solely the responsibility of SETDA.
https://nasbe.org/http://dpi.wi.gov/home.htmlhttp://dpi.wi.gov/home.htmlhttp://www.inacol.org/http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspxhttp://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspxhttp://www.hewlett.org/http://www.hewlett.org/http://www.digitalpromise.org/http://home.byu.edu/home/http://www.henrico.k12.va.us/index.htmlhttp://www.ccsso.org/http://www.ccsso.org/http://www.henrico.k12.va.us/index.htmlhttp://home.byu.edu/home/http://www.digitalpromise.org/http://www.hewlett.org/http://www.hewlett.org/http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspxhttp://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspxhttp://www.inacol.org/http://dpi.wi.gov/home.htmlhttp://dpi.wi.gov/home.htmlhttps://nasbe.org/


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1Out of Print: Reimagining the K-12 Textbook in a Digital Age | SETDA | www.setda.org

Execu ve Summary

Technological innova on is driving fundamental changes in all aspects of our lives. This is especially

true of digital content, as our use of e-books, downloadable music, streaming television andmovies, and online social networks has exploded. However, the explosive growth in our use of digital content seems so far to have eluded many of the 50 million students enrolled in public K-12educa on. In spite of the fact that states and districts spend $5.5 billion a year in core instruc onalcontent, many students are s ll using textbooks made up of content that is 7 to 10 years old. In2012, it is s ll the excep onnot the normthat schools choose to use digital content, whichcould be updated much more frequently, or opt to use the mul tude of high-quality onlineresources available as a primary source for teaching and learning.

The reasons are many, but the result is this: Too few schools are exploi ng digital instruc onalcontent for all of its bene ts. While many in educa on con nue to perpetuate the decades-old

textbook-centric approach to providing students and teachers with instruc onal materials, the gapis widening between what technology allows us to do in our liveshow we communicate, work,learn, and playand how were educa ng our kids.

Nonetheless, it is not a ques on if the reimagining of the textbook will permeate all of educa on,but only a ma er of how and how fast.

Armed with a cost-e ec ve compu ng device and the kind of quality digital content thatsbecoming increasingly available, the bene ts for student learning are many. Digital contentcan easily be kept up to date and relevant to students lives without the cost of reprin ng orredistribu ng print materials such as a textbook. It can be made available any me and anywhere,both online and o ine, and accessible when and where the student, teacher, or parent needs it.It can be personalized to individual student learning needs and abili es. And, digital content canbe far richer and engaging, including not only text, but also high-de ni on graphics, video clips,anima ons, simula ons, interac ve lessons, virtual labs, and online assessments. Instead of ngstudents to content, digital content allows the teacher to t the content to the student.

The primary bene t of digital content may be its exibility. Crucial to realizing the exibility bene tare open educa onal resources (OER), resources that reside in the public domain or have beenreleased under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by othersin perpetuity.


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States are the key to driving instruc onal materials innova on. With primary responsibility fordetermining the process and funding models for instruc onal materials acquisi on in their schools,states have started to implement signi cant policy changesin some cases with the support of thefederal governmentthat are giving powerful momentum to the shi from print to digital content.

For instance, Indiana is rede ning textbooks and providing exibility in the use of textbook funds;

Texas has enacted a similar de ni on shi and added an educa on portal to share content; Utahhas begun a signi cant shi to OER; and Virginia is leveraging other digital ini a ves in assessmentto support innova ve digital content development.

In total, 22 states have introduced either de ni onal or funding exibility, launched a digitaltextbook ini a ve, and/or launched an OER ini a ve. Common to virtually all of these e orts arestrong state leadership, a culture of innova on, a belief in increased local exibility in spending andcontent choice, and strong implementa on plans.

Yet, policy changes regarding instruc onal materials are not su cient to ensuring that digitalcontent gets into the classroom and is used e ec vely. In making the shi to digital instruc onalmaterials, states and districts need to address the following interrelated issues:

Sustainable funding for devices . Without easy access to devices, students cannot take fulladvantage of the digital content (and these same devices can and should be leveraged for othereduca onal ends, including online assessment and access to online learning).

Robust internet connec vity . States need to plan for and implement a network and internetinfrastructure su cient to enable pervasive, simultaneous use of devices for instruc on,assessment, and school opera ons.

Up-to-date policies and prac ces . In addi on to state policy changes, local districts need toexamine their policies and prac ces to je son those that inhibit the use of digital content andlook for ini a ves and incen ves to encourage its use.

Prepared educators . Colleges of educa on need to prepare teachers to use digital content,and districts need to provide opportuni es for sustained professional learning, including onlineaccess to communi es of prac ce.

Intellectual property and reuse rights . A key bene t of digital content is its exibility, butcontent should be licensed to take advantage of the exibility and encourage sharing andcustomiza on.

Quality control and usability . If digital content is ve ed at the local level and tagged in such away as to make it easy to nd and use in a variety of situa ons, it saves teachers me and helpsthem to personalize learning in their classrooms.

State and local leadership buy-in . Leadership is a key factor in changes in state policy and it is

no less important at the local level. Leaders provide the necessary vision and support to enablesuccessful implementa on planning.

Given current trends and building upon the real-world experiences of states and leadingdistricts, the State Educa onal Technology Directors Associa on (SETDA) o ers the followingrecommenda ons for K-12 policymakers, school leaders, and publishers:
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Recommenda on 1: Complete the Shi from Print-Centric Textbook Adop on Prac ces to DigitalResources within Five YearsSETDA recommends that states and districts commit to beginning the shi from print to digitalinstruc onal materials with the next major textbook adop on cycle, comple ng the transi on byno later than the 2017-18 school year. If the commitment is not made immediately, major fundingwill go toward providing students and teachers with sta c, in exible content that will be in place for

5 to 10 years, depending upon the length of the cycle.

Recommenda on 2: Develop a Vision and Roadmap for Comple ng the ShiSETDA recommends that state and district leaders establish a clear vision for the use of digitaland open content and clearly communicate that vision to school leaders, teachers, publishers,technology companies serving the educa on community, and the public at large. The vision shouldlook beyond textbooks alone and consider exibility, quality, and e ec veness of all materials. Anysuch vision and roadmap should pledge at a minimum to:

Recommenda on 2a: Eliminate Unnecessary Regula ons and Enact Suppor ve Policies.States, districts, and publishers must re-examine and revamp all processes for the crea on,acquisi on, and use of instruc onal materials to take advantage of what digital content canbring to the educa on sector.

Recommenda on 2b: Invest in Infrastructure and Devices to Support the Shi . States anddistricts should pursue cost-e ec ve collabora ve purchasing of student compu ng devicesand increase exibility of funding in dedicated funding streams to op mize the use of digitalresources in schools and to leverage the larger print to digital shi in educa on acrossassessment, instruc on, and professional learning.

Recommenda on 2c: Ensure E ec ve Implementa on of Digital Policies. To be successful,states and districts must iden fy and disseminate e ec ve models of implementa on onhow to make the shi from print to digital, including for teacher prepara on and support.

Recommenda on 3: Ensure a Vibrant Marketplace for Digital and Open ContentSETDA recommends that policymakers, educators, and business leaders collaborate to createalterna ve, exible models for the crea on, acquisi on, distribu on, and use of digital content.

Implemen ng these recommenda ons and reimagining an integral element of the educa onalsystem within ve years is a daun ng task. Yet, as this report highlights, leading states and districtshave traveled par ally down the path alreadyand our students are ready. If we are serious abouto ering a college- and career-ready educa on for all students, we do not have the luxury of further

delay.

It is past due me to reimagine the future of the K-12 textbook. Join us.


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Technological innova on is driving fundamental changes in all aspects of our lives, both occupa onaland recrea onal. Technology and its related tools are an integral part of work for accountants,mechanics, sales directors, and doctors. Outside of work we schedule travel, sell and buy goods andservices, and talk face to face with loved ones halfway around the globe, all with the assistance of technology. This is especially true of digital content, as it has permeated our lives through e-books,music, television, movies, and social interac ons. However, its explosive growth seems to have

sidestepped many of the 50 million students enrolled in public K-12 educa on. In spite of the factthat the United States invests $5.5 billion a year in textbooks 1, many students are using printed booksthat are 7 to 10 years old and contain outdatedmaterial. 2 Its the excep onnot the normwhen schools choose to use digital contentthat could be updated much more frequentlyor opt to use the mul tude of high-qualityeduca onal resources available from all kinds of publishers (commercial, nonpro ts, university-based, individual educators, or even studentsthemselves) as a primary source for teachingand learning.

There are mul ple reasons for the lag in moving to digital content: State laws and policies have not kept pace either with changes in technology or uses of

technology in schools. Ve ng of content o en occurs in such a way as to discourage many publishers from compe ng

in the market and elimina ng many materials that could be used e ec vely by educators andstudents.

There is inadequate access to technology and technical support in schools and homes for a fullyequitable shi to digital content at district or state levels.

The business model for the crea on, acquisi on, distribu on, and use of instruc onal materialsin K-12 educa on is more than a half-century old and has become a barrier to innova on.

Modern teacher training models are insu cient in many teacher prepara on programs. Given the variability of material available on the internet, there is a percep on of inferior

quality as compared to print content.

The reasons are many, but the result is this: The educa onal environment isnt exploi ng digitalcontent for all of the bene ts that can accrue for todays learners. The gap is widening for what we doin our liveshow we communicate, work, learn, and playand how were educa ng our kids.

The OpportunityEduca on is changing in so many ways, with a major focus on improving student learning outcomes.The progress made on developing and adop ng more rigorous Common Core State Standards(CCSS)and other revised state curriculum standards is guiding teachers to remap what and howthey teach. Having CCSS provides unprecedented opportunity to ensure content is aligned to thestandards without having to take into account o en seemingly idiosyncra c di erences from stateto state. Teachers and administrators alike are ge ng a more mature grasp on how to use data tomeasure and improve learning. District technology support is becoming more knowledgeable abouthow to deliver the teaching, learning, and assessment services needed by their schools.

The educa onal environment isnt exploi ng digital content for all of thebene ts that can accrue for todayslearners. The gap is widening for what wedo in our lives how we communicate,work, learn, and play and how wereeduca ng our kids.
http://www.corestandards.org/the-standardshttp://www.corestandards.org/the-standardshttp://www.corestandards.org/the-standardshttp://www.corestandards.org/the-standards


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The bene ts of digital content for student learning are many. Digital content can easily be kept upto date and relevant to students lives without the cost of reprin ng or redistribu ng print materialssuch as a textbook (although digital content can be printed out when the need is there). It canbe made available any me and anywhere, both online and o ine, accessible when the student,teacher, or parent needs it, whether from home, school, or another loca on. And digital contentcan be far richer and engaging, including not only text, but also high-de ni on graphics, video clips,anima ons, simula ons, interac ve lessons, virtual labs, and online assessments.

The primary bene t of digital content is its exibility. A tradi onal print textbook is hundreds of pages long with su cient content to cover an en re year and can cost up toand in some caseseven more than$100 per book per subject/grade. As such, tradi onal textbooks are

typically slated to be used for 6 to 10 years,par ally to amor ze the cost. This in turnencourages schools to be very protec ve of the books, forbidding students to write inthem or in some cases even take them out of school. In contrast, digital content can be acquired insmaller pieces (i.e., chapters or lessons vs. the whole scope and sequence) and those pieces can beassembled and used in many places in a K-12 curriculum, not just in one subject area in one grade.This exibility in approach extends far beyond the classroom, beginning with the actual crea on of the content to its sale and distribu on, allowing for more content creators and mul ple businessmodels. Students and educators alike can create accurate, high-quality, engaging content that canbe shared via the internet with others around the globe.

The key to realizing the exibility bene t is open educa onal resources (OER). According to a reportwri en for the William and Flora Hewle Founda on :

OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have beenreleased under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others.[OER] include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, so ware,and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.

The key to realizing the exibility bene t is open educa onal resources.

The Digital Di erence
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While print materials can be OER, where the truevalue of OER comes into play is the ability foreducators to reuse, remix, and generally customizeany OER to speci c students needs. And, as theHewle Founda on de ni on states, OER are free;this is backed up by the Crea ve Commons, an

organiza on that encourages the sharing of crea veworks such as OER through free legal tools.

The North Carolina eLearning Commission iden ed eleven poten al advantages of thetransforma on to digital educa on resources: 3

Up-to-date informa on upda ng and publishingaddi onal informa on for greater accuracy andmeliness

Mul media and interac vity that allows for

more and be er student engagement Customiza on to address individual student

needs Adaptability for special learning needs Student annota ons incorpora ng digital tools

without damaging the materials Availability guaranteeing access any me,

anywhere Poten al cost savings over me Increasing compe on through altering business

models and encouraging a variety of providers OER to encourage reuse, remixing, and

redistribu on of quality content that can becustomized for individual students

Addressing health issues by lightening thebackpack

Emerging resources are being generatedfrom founda ons, states, new collabora vepartnerships, and teachers themselves

SETDA sees four primary interrelated advantagesto increasing the use of digital content in todays

schools. Over me and with good implementa on, ashi to digital content will:

Increase student learning and engagement Accommodate the special learning needs of

students Facilitate the search and discovery of unbundled

resources Support educators in personalizing learning

A Parallel Push by Higher Educa onUniversi es and colleges are pursuing mul plepaths in their e orts to introduce the use of digitalcontent to replace printed textbooks. Currentes mates pegged digital textbook sales in higher

educa on at 3 percent in 20114

, with sales projectedto reach 35 percent by 2016. 5

However, unlike K-12, which has many compellingreasons for shi ing to digital content, the main goalin higher educa on currently is to reduce the highcost of instruc onal material to students and theirparents. Student Public Interest Research Groups(PIRGs), state student organiza ons that work onpublic interest issues, es mate that the averagecollege student spends $1,168 a year on textbooksand course materials. 6 Thats a cost, says oneobserver, that could shrink with mainstream digitaltextbooks. 7 The organiza on is promo ng the useof open textbooks by providing links to them on itswebsite and organizing na onal, state, and localadvocacy campaigns.

Several states, Washington and California amongthem, are introducing ini a ves intended to makematerials from the most enrolled in postsecondary

courses available as OER o erings or inexpensivedigital texts. 5

Movement is also happening on the commercialtextbook side. In 2011, Indiana University nego ated agreements with mul ple majorpublishers to drama cally reduce the price of textbooks by making them available in a digitalformat, extending the period for which studentshave access to them, and giving more exibilityin how the material may be used. In return, the

university guaranteed that the publishers wouldreceive a fee from every student in a given courseusing the digital texts. The students access thematerial through Courseload, a digital contentpla orm that runs on any device that can use aWeb browser. 8 The course fee model has now beenpicked up with some varia on by other ins tu ons,such as the University of Minnesota and theUniversity of California Berkeley .9
http://creativecommons.org/http://www.elearningnc.gov/http://www.studentpirgs.org/http://www.studentpirgs.org/http://www.indiana.edu/http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/index.htmlhttp://berkeley.edu/http://berkeley.edu/http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/index.htmlhttp://www.indiana.edu/http://www.studentpirgs.org/http://www.studentpirgs.org/http://www.elearningnc.gov/http://creativecommons.org/


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Yarmouth High School, MaineA senior at Yarmouth High School in Maine armed with a district-provided laptop (like 60,000other students in the state ou i ed with computers through the Maine Learning TechnologyIni a ve ) used its func onality to set up a program to bring together teens from her schoolwith teens from Iraq to share informa on about themselves and create a new image [of each

other] by having personal interac ons. Now the project is expanding to other high schools inher state as well as students in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Israel. 13

Digital content makes it easier to track student performance through forma ve assessment andprogress monitoring. Teachers can provide alterna ve content with the click of a link when theyno ce that students are not being successful with the current content, allowing students to receiveaddi onal instruc on on concepts they havent completely mastered. While nobody should claimthat the use of technology or digital content will guarantee excellent instruc on, it can openthe door for teachers to personalize learning by allowing the educator greater exibility in howinstruc on is delivered.

San Diego Uni edA er two years of tes ng, Californias San Diego Uni ed School District has begun rollingout a large-scale netbook and tablet program and the wide adop on of digital content to78,000 teachers and students in more than 1,300 classrooms. Says Barbara Allen, director of educa onal technology for the district, teachers across the board have reported an increase instudent engagement, more a en on to the tasks at hand, and a more enthusias c response tolessons, because students enjoy learning in this new medium. 14

Accommoda ons for Special Learning NeedsThe ability to adapt content and personalize learning is especially important for students withspecial learning needs. The current process involves retro ng accessibility into exis nginstruc onal materials, a me-consuming and expensive processand one that is glaringlyinsu cient to mee ng the learning needs of todays students. As the pace of digital contentcrea on speeds up and the number of creators expands, current approaches to serving studentswith special needs will no longer work. Teachers, families, and students themselves will increasinglydemand more and be er access to high-quality instruc onal materials.

The US Department of Educa on recentlyfunded a ve-year program with Benetech tocon nue the Silicon Valley nonpro ts workin crea ng free open source tools for contentproviders and working with those providers tomake educa onal materials accessible from thestart. The tools will tackle major challenges,such as accessible math and graphics. Theorganiza on expects to double its studentmembership to 400,000, grow usage of its tools

The ability to adapt content and personalize learning is especially important for students with special learning needs. The current processinvolves retro ng accessibility intoexis ng instruc onal materials, a me-consuming and expensive process.
http://yhs.yarmouthschools.org/http://www.maine.gov/mlti/index.shtmlhttp://www.maine.gov/mlti/index.shtmlhttp://www.sandi.net/site/default.aspx%3FPageID%3D1http://www.ed.gov/http://www.benetech.org/http://www.benetech.org/http://www.ed.gov/http://www.sandi.net/site/default.aspx%3FPageID%3D1http://www.maine.gov/mlti/index.shtmlhttp://www.maine.gov/mlti/index.shtmlhttp://yhs.yarmouthschools.org/


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by 150 percent, and increase to more than 200,000 the number of educa on tles in its library. Itwill also use the funding to expand its teacher training and parent outreach. Benetech will team upwith the American Ins tutes for Research and other en es to accomplish the work. 15

The Na onal Center for Accessible Instruc onalMaterials (AIM) at CASTis working with states

to support the development of infrastructureneeded to ensure that students with disabili esreceive highquality, accessible instruc onalmaterials in a mely manner. The AIMCenter also promotes freely available toolsthat exemplify Universal Design for Learning(UDL), a framework for crea ng exiblelearning environments to accommodatedi erent learning styles. For example, theUDL Book Builder 16 provides authoring toolsfor developing online digital content thatincludes student response elds; coachesfor building understanding; goal statements for the material in music and audio; hyperlinks, and arobust glossary for key de ni ons. The content provided includes a reading bar that provides text-to-speech with synchronized highligh ng. These digital textbooks may be authored by students,parents, and teachers and then shared with others in online libraries.

Other UDL related tools and resources, such as the free CAST Science Writer and CASTStrategy Tutor, 17 may be used directly by educators or used to provide guidance to those who areresponsible for developing speci ca ons for new online learning environments. CAST providesaddi onal tools and supports for developing UDL curricula on the UDL Center website. Whenlearning goals, teaching methods, materials, and assessments are universally designed fromthe start, educators can prevent many of the learning challenges created by an in exible andnonsuppor ve curriculum.

Digital content tools also are proving useful to students with learning disabili es or those whostruggle with reading. Some tablets use of digital versions of books in English classes, for example,can provide an audio version and study guides, enabling a student to listen to the book and followalong on the tablet.

The next genera on of iOS, Apples mobile device opera ng system, will o er two new accessibilityfeatures to an already robust set. Guided Access will allow for the lockdown of an iOS 6 device to

limit its use to a single app, especially useful to students with disabili es such as au sm, since it willhelp them stay focused on the current task.

The bo om line is that digital content can be more accessible and e ec ve than print-basedapproaches to addressing the full spectrum of learning abili es in the na ons classrooms. If digitalcontent developers and publishers design for accessibility and variability in learning abili es rightfrom the start, not only will students with special needs bene t, but all students will. Moreover, oncean educator has tailored content to suit a students personal learning needs, that accommoda oncan be shared and leveraged by everyone (providing that content is openly licensed).

The bo om line is that digital content

can be more accessible and e ec ve than print-based approaches to addressingthe full spectrum of learning abili es inthe na ons classrooms. If digital content developers and publishers design for accessibility and variability in learningabili es right from the start, not only will students with special needs bene t, all students will.
http://www.air.org/http://aim.cast.org/http://aim.cast.org/http://www.cast.org/http://www.cast.org/udl/http://www.cast.org/udl/http://sciencewriter.cast.org/welcomehttp://www.cast.org/learningtools/strategy_tutor/index.htmlhttp://www.cast.org/learningtools/strategy_tutor/index.htmlhttp://www.apple.com/ios/http://www.apple.com/ios/http://www.cast.org/learningtools/strategy_tutor/index.htmlhttp://www.cast.org/learningtools/strategy_tutor/index.htmlhttp://sciencewriter.cast.org/welcomehttp://www.cast.org/udl/http://www.cast.org/udl/http://www.cast.org/http://aim.cast.org/http://aim.cast.org/http://www.air.org/


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Unbundled Search and DiscoveryThe ability of educators to locate just the right resource, lesson, or chapter as they need it is animportant considera on with digital content. There may be hundreds of poten al resources to usefor any given lesson when the teacher has the en re World Wide Web to choose from. To nd andselect among the vast array of content can be daun ng. Therefore a number of tagging schema arebeing developed to simplify how educators search for the speci c materials they need. A tag is a

descrip ve term applied to a lesson or chunk of content that iden es it by such characteris cs asintended grade level ( h grade), class type (science), and speci c topic (atoms and molecules) andstandard.

The widespread adop on of CCSS and thepossibility that its science counterpart, theNext Genera on Science Standards, also willbe adopted broadly highlights another strongadvantage of digital contentgreater abilityto align and tag content to the CCSS. With thepending launch of CCSS in most states, educatorsacross the country are already applying digitaltags to content they use. The tag can accompanythe content wherever and whenever its used.Eventually, these tags will allow the searchprocess to become ever more granular, helpingteachers iden fy resources not just for speci cgrade levels and subjects, but for individual itemswithin a given standard.

Some states and districts are making a

concerted e ort to undertake such a task. Forexample, Maine brought together exemplaryteachers from around the state and providedtraining regarding high-quality digital content.The teachers then began to look for digitalmaterials that t the standards within theircontent area and began to tag the materialsthey found. Michigans portal, Michigan OnlineResources for Educators, has lesson plans and other resources tagged to speci c content standards.Other states and school districts are engaged in similar e orts.

One important tagging e ort that surfaced during 2011 is the Learning Resource Metadata Ini a ve(LRMI), co-led by the Associa on of Educa onal Publishers and Crea ve Commons. If adopted byorganiza ons that maintain online repositories of digital content, the LRMI will create a frameworkfor use by the major search engines Google , Bing, and Yahoo! to help students and teachersmore easily nd digital learning resources that complement learning standards, including those inCCSS. The intent of LRMI is to drama cally increase the accuracy and usefulness of online searchengines by establishing a common vocabulary for describing learning resources. Likewise, contentproviders that refer their users to online resources will be able to provide more relevant andpersonalized recommenda ons and services. For example, Mathema cs as a subject is less useful

When informa on is digi zed it becomesmore portable, more available on thosewonderful devices. We were askedas we were always askedare peoplege ng smarter or dumber. My standard answer: There hasnt been any discerniblechange. My giant piece of evidence: thelevel of poli cal knowledge in 2008 vs.1988no change; the same propor on in2008 knew who the Speaker of the Housewas; the same number of people knew who was Chief Jus ce. My colleague said,Yeah, but what if they had an iPhonein their hands? In ve seconds theyd know who the Speaker of the House is. Thats a big story about the digi za on of informa on.

Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Centers Internet and American Life Project 18
http://more.mel.org/http://more.mel.org/http://www.lrmi.net/http://www.lrmi.net/http://aepweb.org/http://www.google.com/http://www.bing.com/http://www.yahoo.com/http://pewinternet.org/http://pewinternet.org/http://pewinternet.org/http://pewinternet.org/http://www.yahoo.com/http://www.bing.com/http://www.google.com/http://aepweb.org/http://www.lrmi.net/http://www.lrmi.net/http://more.mel.org/http://more.mel.org/


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than Arithme c, Number and opera ons, Ra o and propor on. LRMI will bring consistency to thedescrip ons.

A related technical e ortfocused on expanding our collec ve intelligence about how students andteachers leverage the use of digital resourcesis the Learning Registry. This open source frameworkwas developed by a team of public and private collaborators to facilitate the exchange of digital

data behind the scenes. Like the LRMI, the Learning Registry is not a des na on that educatorswill go to. Rather, districts, states, and content creators that implement Learning Registry serviceswill enable educators everywhere to more easily nd informa on user ra ngs, comments,downloads, standards alignment, and moreabout content speci c to their needs no ma erwhere it resides online. The Learning Registrywill support informa on sharing for materialposted freely online, as well as for resourcesthat are only accessible via purchase and/orsubscrip on.

Finally, the Shared Learning Collabora ve is an alliance of organiza ons building a sharedtechnology infrastructure to support the CCSS and help states and districts provide teachers withthe instruc onal data and tools they need to deliver personalized learning. That infrastructure willinclude middleware to integrate the data locked in applica ons across states, a data repositoryfor storing learning data, dashboards to make the data more useful for educators, and othercomponents.

Support for Personalized LearningDigital content lends itself far more easily than printed ma er to personalized instruc on. Becauseits more exible in digital form, the curriculum can be customized from student to student.

Teachers can mix and match their materials with other educators resources to the digital contentbeing made available to students. Course content can be broken up into speci c lessons to addresslearning gaps where needed. Through con nual assessment, ne-tuning of instruc on can occur.When a student doesnt understand a speci c lesson, the teacher can quickly direct him or herto an online lesson that provides explana on, interac ve exercises, and assessment to ensurethe new lesson is e ec ve all while the teacher is working with other students at their levelof understanding. In some cases, the digital content itself can direct the student to addi onalmaterials to enhance or expand the learning.

In other words, instead of ng students to content, digital content allows the teacher to t thecontent to the student.

Self-directed learning, a much-sought goal of 21st century educa on, can really blossom with digitalcontent. As students become more adept at using digital content and building their digital literacy,theyre able to choose their own sources for learning rather than simply being fed lessons throughthe lter of a textbook or a single teacher. In the op mal scenario, the student is inspired to expandlearning beyond school, and that means shi ing e ortlessly from school-sanc oned lessons toother resources, a feat made easier with digital content.

In other words, instead of ng studentsto content, digital and open content allows the teacher to t the content to thestudent.
http://www.learningregistry.org/http://slcedu.org/http://slcedu.org/http://www.learningregistry.org/


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Pew Research Centers Internet and American Life Project reports that knowledge is no longerbuilt on text and sta c picturesits disrupted, sca ered. Students rely on links for their learningin order to check primary sources. Self-paced learning can now be provided in the classroom,says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew project. Children understand there is some burden and somereward. If theyre desperate to learn how to create new knowledge, theyll nd a way to get that. 18

The digital scenario holds the promise of presen ng schools and their teachers with access to acon nually growing and changing pool of diverse mul media content, which can be quickly sortedby subject and grade, and peer- and expert-ranked to help teachers nd just the right learningobjects for use in a given class for a par cular lesson.

This is the case at Vail School District in Arizona, which has an ini a ve called Beyond Textbooks thats growing statewide as other districts adopt the program, and features a quickly expandingrepository of digital content created and shared by the teachers who par cipate in the program.Content is ve ed by Beyond Textbooks sta for poten al copyright issues, forma ng problems,congruency to standards, and level of rigor. 19 Vail has used the Beyond Textbooks approach toincrease student achievement in math and reading from levels near or below state averages priorto the start of the program to pass rates that are now consistently 20 percent or more above stateaverages and greater than 90 percent year a er year at most grade levels.

Although many innova ve teachers already use digital content, frequently what happens is thattheyre s ll forced to accept the textbooks approved by their district or state, and those books endup gathering dust on classroom bookshelves or are used sparingly. As Tom Woodward, assistantdirector of Instruc onal Technology at Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia, notes, Much of the power [of digital content] comes from using things people actually like, things theyd use of their own free will. 20
http://www.vail.k12.az.us/http://beyondtextbooks.org/http://www.henrico.k12.va.us/Technology/InstructionalTechnology.htmlhttp://www.henrico.k12.va.us/Technology/InstructionalTechnology.htmlhttp://beyondtextbooks.org/http://www.vail.k12.az.us/


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Pro les in State Instruc onal Materials Leadership

While progress is being made, American schools s ll have far to go in shi ing from print textbooksto digital content. One current es mate puts digital textbooks at about three percent of theeduca on textbook market in 2011. 21 Use of digital content is expected to grow at a year-over-yearrate of more than 100 percent, but even then, according to Next is Now, the blog for a textbookdistribu on company, schools will have just 19.5 percent adop on by 2014 and 50 percent by2018. The company also es mates that by 2014, when the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)are formally in place, openly licensed content will make up just 10 percent of digital content ineduca on.

Pilot projects are taking place in hundreds of districts across the country to gure out the bestcombina on of factors for helping digital content programs to grow more quickly. Possibly moreimportant, signi cant policy changes arebeing created and implemented at the statelevelin some cases with the support of thefederal governmentthat are giving powerfulmomentum to the shi from print to digitalcontent. In this sec on we pro le ini a vesundertaken in four states, Indiana, Texas,Utah, and Virginia, and provide thumbnailsketches of policy changes in other states.

Indiana: Accelera ng Local Innova onTradi onally, the State Board of Educa on in Indiana approved a list of textbooks, and districtscalled

school corpora onshad to apply for a waiver to go o -list. In 2009, unhappy with submissionsfor social studies textbooks, the State Board of Educa on gave school corpora ons a blanket waiverto select their own materials. In addi on to the freedom to select any textbook, the State Boardfurther s pulated that schools could consider digital content and devices for delivering that contentas appropriate expenses in the category of textbooks. Two years later the Indiana General Assemblypassed into law an act (HB 1479) that placed into statute an expanded de ni on of textbookand removed the authority of the State Board of Educa on to adopt textbooks. HB 1479 placesresponsibility for review of print and digital curriculum on the Indiana Department of Educa on,which publishes the resul ng reviews but doesnt eliminate materials from considera on. Its up toeach school corpora on to make its own decisions regarding textbook adop on. 22

Signi cant policy changes are beingcreated and implemented at the statelevel in some cases with the support of the federal government that are giving powerful momentum to the shi from print to digital content.
http://www.nextisnow.net/http://www.doe.in.gov/idoe/sboehttp://www.doe.in.gov/idoe/sboehttp://www.nextisnow.net/


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Uniquely, parents in Indiana pay a rental feefor the textbooks their children use, based onthe cost of the books. With the 2009 changes,school corpora ons were able to divert thatrental money as they chose, including usingit to purchase compu ng devices and acquire

digital content, a diversion that about 11percent of schools took advantage of duringthe 2010-2011 school year.

At the same me, the State Board of Educa on began issuing innova on grants tofund exis ng programs in districts that weremaking the shi from print materials to digitalcontent in order to help accelerate and scale them. School corpora ons use the funds for a varietyof projects, many involving deployment of devices and the use of digital content to a targeted gradeat a speci c school or for focused professional development programs.

The state has also taken the lead in structuring events and ac vi es to encourage innovators in theuse of digital content to nd each other. These include sites visits, webinars, meet-ups, quarterlycalls, conference presenta ons, and set-up of professional learning networks. The state encouragesfrank discussion among school corpora ons to share whats working and whats not working inorder to encourage the abandonment of unsuccessful programs.

As John Keller, assistant superintendent for technology in Indianas Department of Educa on,explains, Were not trying to use the limited funds that we have to help folks catch up. We havemade it a priority to invest in corpora ons that are clearly demonstra ng a local commitment andurgency to improvement. This is about helping people who are running fast run faster rather thanhelping folks catch up. 23

Indiana has seen some successes worth no ng. For example, in 2010 some schools using digitalcontent no ced double-digit increasesone as high as 31 percentin the ra o of students passingend-of-course assessments. In another pilot where there were four curriculum choices with digitalcontent made available to par cipa ng schools, none proved more or less e ec ve with its gainsthan the others, but all demonstrated measurable gains. For example, algebra assessments donea er one of the pilots increased by 5.6 percent vs. a state average improvement of 2.8 percent. 23

This experimenta on typi es another aspect of Indianas approach. The state recognizes its limited

capacity for funding to support innova on and experimenta on, so it focuses its small-scale trialson schools that want to go rst. As Keller notes, Were willing to help take the nancial risk outof trying new promising products so that schools that are interested in such innova ons can thenreallocate their own resources to purchase the service once theyve had a chance to observe it inac on in the Indiana context.

Were not trying to use the limited funds that we have to help folks catchup. We have made it a priority toinvest in corpora ons that are clearly demonstra ng a local commitment and urgency to improvement. This is about helping people who are running fast run faster rather than helping folks catch up.

John Keller, assistant superintendent for technology, Indiana Department of Educa on


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Texas: Introducing Funding FlexibilityTexas, the rst state to rede ne textbook toencompass digital content as long ago as 1987,made a further change in 2011 to modify howinstruc onal materials were purchased by districts.That same change, introduced by the Texas

legislature, also addressed how districts could payfor the acquisi on of technology and technology-related services.

Previously, the state would review poten altextbook materials and put those approved ontoan order list. Districts could order anything theywanted from the list for as many students as theyhad and the state would pay for the purchase. Thestate also paid a technology alloca on of about$30 per student to the district. The fund could beused to purchase electronic textbooks or otherclassroom technology and pay for training peopleinvolved in student learning on the use of digitalcontent. 24

In 2011, with Senate Bill 6, the legislature changedits instruc onal materials funding process andeliminated the technology allotment. Districtswould receive an Instruc onal Materials Allotment,which granted school districts more discre on over how they spent their dollars. 25 The district is

expected to use the allotment to pay for contentwhether in printed or digital formas well asprofessional development and technical support to keep the devices and networks working. 26

The state s ll reviews textbooks, both printed and digital, and districts can s ll order o of thatapproved list in order to ensure that the materials they use address the essen al knowledge andskills set forth by the State Board of Educa on . But now the districts pay for those materials out of the funds they receive from their allotment. Currently, digital content makes up 30 percent of theorders for instruc onal materials by districts.

As a result, many districts are choosing to purchase classroom sets of textbooks rather thantextbooks for each student. Because the legisla on was approved so close to the adop on me,

nearly all districts chose state ve ed materials. However, the Texas Educa on Agency expects thatwith me districts will increasingly select non-state adopted materials and invest the funds in newtechnology and related services.

The state also set aside $10 million for a technology lending program, designed to help districtsprovide compu ng devices to students who had no access at home. 27

A point to note: Beyond the adop on of digital content in the classroom, schools, districts, andstates are nding they need some way to house and distribute the content of all kinds and to foster

Lincoln Junior HighLincoln Junior High in Indiana adoptedlaptops in 2010 for all 580 students. Tocover the cost, the school received anini al grant to implement content for

math online and held o on adop ngtextbooks in math and social studies,which cut textbook costs in half, accordingto principal Dan Funston.

Shortly a er ge ng their computers,according to coverage in the localnewspaper, Students already weremaking movies and videos with iLife, asuite of so ware programs, or looking forinterac ve adventures in math throughh p://coolmath.com .

Calling digital textbooks the future of educa on, Superintendent Dan Tyreenotes that theyre easier to update thana printed textbook and theyre cheaper toproduce. 28
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx%3Fid%3D1156http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index.aspxhttp://www.plymouth.k12.in.us/http://www.coolmath.com/http://www.coolmath.com/http://www.plymouth.k12.in.us/http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index.aspxhttp://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx%3Fid%3D1156


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collabora ons among educators. To address this aspect of digital content, the Texas Educa onAgency introduced Project Share, an online community for teachers to collaborate, research, andshare resources. This community is available free to all educators in the state. The TEA contractedwith The New York Times Knowledge Network and Epsilen , a learning management system ande-por olio development company. Texas is using the Project Share portal to accumulate digitalcontent, organize it, and distribute it, and to encourage teachers to use digital content. Through a

login process, the system customizes access to resources for 300,000 teachers and administratorsand 4 million students across the state.

Besides the New York Times Content Repository , the portal provides programming from a numberof other resources, including PBS, McDonald Observatory , NASA, and the Smithsonian . The stateis also using Project Share to house electronic copies of instruc onal materials that have beenadopted in the state, primarily digital versions of printed textbooks. To gain access to the content,teachers log in and nd it online. Thats where they also gain access to professional developmentmaterials, including text, video, and audio. All this content is free to school districts.

The philosophy followed by the state is to clear hurdles standing in the way of local adop on andlet individual districts and educators make decisions. Districts are free to spend their content andtechnology funds as they decide, as long as those investments t the state-managed criteria andare speci cally ed to student learning. Teachers are given resources for self-help in becomingconversant with new methods of instruc on and the use of digital content in the classroom.Commercial digital content is licensed statewide for use by educators and students. Project Sharealso may eventually become a major repository of open digital content accessible by educatorsinside and outside the state.

Utah: Leveraging Open ContentIf theres a geographic center to the K-12 open educa onal resource (OER) movement in this

country, its surely the state of Utah. Utahs approach to instruc onal materials is for the state tomake recommenda ons but to leave ul mate decision making to the district. To that end, in January2012 the O ce of Educa on announced that it would support development of open textbooksin key areas, including language arts, science, and math. The O ce of Educa on also said it wouldencourage districts and schools throughout the state to consider adop ng them beginning in fall2012. That encompasses 275,000 6th through 12th graders in public school. 29

The state of Utah sets statewide technology goals, such as a 1-to-1 ra o of computer/tablet/handheld device to student and adequate bandwidth and network connec ons for reliable studentand educator access, to guide policymakers and educators. Utahs Instruc onal Materials Center recommends textbooks and other forms of curriculum to the Utah State O ce of Educa on. Theresult of that work appears in an online state database that educators can sort by publisher, subject,category, course, and adop on ac on, such asRecommended Teacher Resource. However,neither body mandates the use of the content inits public schools. The states adop on process isto provide a general list of approved materials,but ul mate decision-making rests with localeduca on agencies. 30

If theres a geographic center to the K-12open educa onal resource movement inthis country, its surely the state of Utah.
http://www.nytimesknownow.com/http://corp.epsilen.com/http://projectsharetexas.org/http://www.epsilen.com/LandingSite/KFNYTCR.htm%3Ftime%3D1298484272290http://www.pbs.org/http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/http://www.nasa.gov/http://www.si.edu/http://www.schools.utah.gov/main/http://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/imc/http://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/imc/http://www.schools.utah.gov/main/http://www.si.edu/http://www.nasa.gov/http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/http://www.pbs.org/http://www.epsilen.com/LandingSite/KFNYTCR.htm%3Ftime%3D1298484272290http://projectsharetexas.org/http://corp.epsilen.com/http://www.nytimesknownow.com/


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In 2001 the Utah State Textbook Commission changed its name to the Utah State Instruc onalMaterials Commission to re ect its interest in emerging digital and mul media formats for theseresources. It has been evalua ng materials in these formats through an annual review process sincethat me. That process of state recommenda on and local decision-making will be maintained asUtah shi s into the use of digital and open content.

The decision to promote OER on such a broad scale comes a er two years of a pilot project increa on and use of OER textbooks for science. The development of these textbooks was led byDavid Wiley, a faculty member in Brigham Young Universitys School of Educa on. Each pilot wasconducted by the Utah Open Textbook Project , a partnership involving BYU, Nebo School District ,and the O ce of Educa on.

The content of the textbooks will be produced by Utah educators and will be housed on the CK-12pla orm. The CK-12 Founda on is a nonpro t speci cally founded to produce and support free andopen source K-12 materials aligned to state standards. All textbookscalled exbooks availablethrough CK-12 are free, available online, and customizable; theyre licensed under the Crea veCommons A ribu on/Non-Commercial/Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC-by-NC-SA) License. 31

Currently, the work of CK-12 focuses on middle school and high school Science, Technology,Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects; but Utah will be using the pla orm for support in K-6 andlanguage arts as well.

The Open Textbook Project envisions a district paying its best teachers to work together revisingand adap ng the ini al open textbook to meet speci c needs. This custom book would containa teachers edi on, instruc onal supports, explana ons, text, prac ce sets, and assessments.Each summer teachers would invest a smallamount of addi onal me to update the book

as needed. As each new version is readied, thedistrict could distribute the digital content incommon standard formats that include PDF,ePub, or HTML; or the district could chooseto print out a su cient quan ty on demandand give each student a copy that can bewri en in, highlighted, and kept, which makesthe transi on easier for those districts wherestudent compu ng device availability is limited.

The cost comparison is drama c. The Open Textbook Project provides a calculator that allows the

district to es mate its savings compared to its current textbook scenario. For example, if a district isspending $80 per printed textbook for 5,000 students and uses it for six years, thats an investmentof about $400,000 or about $13.33 per student per year. Adop ng open educa onal resources,paying a team of four teachers to update the material each year at $30 per hour for a total of 60hours, and adding prin ng would cost about $152,000 or $5 per student per year. 32

Could a $5 textbook really compare to an $80 one? Wiley and his fellow researchers found in alimited experiment that Utah high school students learned the same amount of science in classesusing the open textbooks as they did in classes using the tradi onal textbooks. 33 Beyond cost

Adop ng open educa onal resources,

paying a team of four teachers to updatethe material each year at $30 per hour for a total of 60 hours, and adding prin ngwould cost about $152,000 or $5 per student per year.
http://www.schools.utah.gov/CURR/imc/News-and-Information/History.aspxhttp://www.schools.utah.gov/CURR/imc/News-and-Information/History.aspxhttp://education.byu.edu/http://utahopentextbooks.org/http://www.nebo.edu/http://www.ck12.org/http://utahopentextbooks.org/calculator/http://utahopentextbooks.org/calculator/http://www.ck12.org/http://www.nebo.edu/http://utahopentextbooks.org/http://education.byu.edu/http://www.schools.utah.gov/CURR/imc/News-and-Information/History.aspxhttp://www.schools.utah.gov/CURR/imc/News-and-Information/History.aspx


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considera ons, the research team noted that OER [allows] teachers and students to remix contentin locally meaningful ways, to share a variety of types of learning resources, and to enable the bestresources for teaching a speci c topic to be more easily found. 34

Virginia: Thinking Beyond TextbooksDiscussion about the broad adop on of digital content cant be separated from considera on of

technology upon which to use it: Teachers and students need ready access to technology devices inorder to take advantage of its bene ts. But what drives schools and districts to invest in devices inthe rst place may not be digital content but something else. That was the case in Virginia, whichhas a long history of fostering innova on in the use of educa onal technology. In 2000, for example,the state began shi ing its high-stakes assessments (known as Standards of Learning) online. In2011 it issued 2.1 million tests onlinetwice as many as any other state.

In 2004, the state launched Virtual Virginia, an online program to deliver advanced placementand other courses to students. In 2005, it created a network of instruc onal technologists to helpteachers integrate technology into their classrooms more e ec vely. The State Department of Educa on was an early contributor to iTunesU. It also collaborated with the Professor Gar eldFounda on to create digital resources for the In nite Learning Lab, to help students with life skills,such as peer pressure, self-esteem, and cyberbullying, as well as language arts topics.

In 2008 the Department undertook a number of ini a ves to explore the use of wireless mobiletechnologies to support and enhance teaching and learning. Those included mul ple programs thattested the use of iPod touch devices and laptops. 35

In 2009 Virginia adopted its rst digital textbook for high school physics. Titled, FlexBook: CK-12Physics, 21st CenturyA Compila on of Contemporary and Emerging Technologies and publishedunder an open license with the support of the CK-12 Founda on, the book is available to any

teacher to use, share, and adapt at no cost.36

The adop on occurred a er a team of scien stsand engineers concluded that the statesexis ng instruc onal materials were very dated.The textbooks then in use talked about cathoderay tubes, for example, with no men on of newer technologies, such as LED, LCD, orplasma displays. Neither organic chemistry nornanoscience were referenced. 37

Those earlier ini a ves have helped districts address the infrastructure needs of schools, enablingthem to support the use of digital content. And they have helped educators become morecomfortable and familiar with the use of technology in learning, preparing them for the fullerintegra on of digital textbooks into their daily curriculum.

In 2010 Beyond Textbooks was launched to access, organize, and deliver high-quality contentusing a variety of tools and pla orms (including the iPad) and to understand the condi onsnecessary for successful implementa on in schools. Fi een classrooms provided iPads to theirstudents. Then the state invited publishers, content providers, technology companies, and others tosubmit resources for use at no cost. 38 As O ce of Educa onal Technology Director Tammy McGraw

Discussion about the broad adop on of digital content cant be separated fromconsidera on of technology upon whichto use it: Teachers and students need ready access to technology devices inorder to take advantage of its bene ts.
http://www.virtualvirginia.org/http://www.doe.virginia.gov/http://www.doe.virginia.gov/http://www.ck12.org/book/21st-Century-Physics---A-Compilation-of-Contemporary-and-Emerging-Technologies/r1/http://www.ck12.org/book/21st-Century-Physics---A-Compilation-of-Contemporary-and-Emerging-Technologies/r1/http://www.lwbva.org/beyondtextbooks.cfmhttp://www.doe.virginia.gov/about/tech_and_career_ed/index.shtmlhttp://www.doe.virginia.gov/about/tech_and_career_ed/index.shtmlhttp://www.lwbva.org/beyondtextbooks.cfmhttp://www.ck12.org/book/21st-Century-Physics---A-Compilation-of-Contemporary-and-Emerging-Technologies/r1/http://www.ck12.org/book/21st-Century-Physics---A-Compilation-of-Contemporary-and-Emerging-Technologies/r1/http://www.doe.virginia.gov/http://www.doe.virginia.gov/http://www.virtualvirginia.org/


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explains, this pilot e ort was unique in that it was just as much an experimental process for theproviders as it was for schools. Par cipants worked aggressively with par cipa ng companies togure out how digital content could best exploit the new pla orm and helped shaped what wasul mately delivered. 39

Henrico County Public SchoolsIn order to encourage development of lesson plans and digital content by its own teachers,Virginias Henrico County Public Schools each year hosts an annual compe on in which itsolicits submissions to Henrico 21, a public digital repository. The submission must havemul ple components: a lesson plan, a rubric, student handouts, links to essen al resources,and a student work sample created through the lesson. Lessons have to be ve ed rst at theschool level through a site-based team review. That same team also provides feedback toteachers and makes recommenda ons for moving lessons onto the division level. The contentadded to Henrico 21 is licensed under a Crea ve Commons license, which allows it to be usedby other teachers, schools, and districts inside and outside the state.

Currently, the site hosts between 200 and 300 lessons. They can be searched on by gradelevel, subject, tag, winner standing, applica on to development of a 21st century classroom,and other criteria. Individual entries can be star rated and commented on.

Winning entries generate recogni on for the teachers who submit the lessons. Theyrepublicly acknowledged as experts at a special ceremony, which is funded through dona onsand grants from vendors and nonpro t organiza ons.

What the division aspires to is building a repository that allows an instructor to access anylesson from any sourcecommercial or internally made. That in turn would be ed into thestudent informa on system, to enable a teacher to iden fy speci c digital content that wouldbe most appropriate to any given student with a speci c learning gap.

Henry County Schools , one of the par cipa ng districtsor divisions as theyre called inVirginiastarted with 40 tablets used in 2 classes and has since grown usage to 3,000 students.Now every third, fourth, and h grader has access to a tablet at school and at home. The devicecontains digital math and social studies curriculum as well as other apps selected by individualteachers. Although the ini al investment for the program came primarily from grants and s mulusfunds, the division itself has invested its own resources to expand the ini a ve based on thestudent success it was experiencing.

Most recently, in August 2012, the Department of Educa on teamed up with public and privateorganiza ons to release two interac ve digital textbooks for teachers to consider using inrequired high school courses on nance and economics. The books contain 2,600 pages worthof digital content: graphic-novel scenarios, interac ve ac vi es, graphing tools, embedded reviewques ons, and self-grading quarterly and nal assessments. To recoup development costs, theDepartment of Educa on is selling iPad edi ons of the books in the Apple iBookstore; however, thestate is also making free PDF versions available, which lack the interac ve elements. 40
http://henrico.k12.va.us/http://schoolwires.henry.k12.ga.us/site/default.aspx%3FPageID%3D1http://schoolwires.henry.k12.ga.us/site/default.aspx%3FPageID%3D1http://henrico.k12.va.us/


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Like the state of Indiana, Virginia is using funding judiciously to help seed new projects in thedigital content space. But unlike Indiana, themoney isnt going only to those schools that arealready on a fast-track.

These pilots help shape be er o erings,McGraw says. We dont have all the answers,but I think there is tremendous value inestablishing pilot projects that spur innova onand help us be er understand the technological,social, and policy challenges that schools face as they transi on to digital content. Schools clearlybene t from what we learn, but I think we also help shape be er products and resources forschools.

Ac ons in Other StatesBy no means are these the only states tes ng out new digital content projects or ne-tuningexis ng programs. Pilots exist in almost every state. Although only some of the ini a ves mayappear bold, mul ple government and educa on agencies, founda ons, nonpro ts, academics,private enterprises, and individuals are pushing the work forward from mul ple sides.

A high-level look at select ac ons in other states can be found on the pages below and issummarized in an exhibit on page 25.

Alabama: The legislature has passed a bill to provide compu ng devices and digital textbooksto high school students, to be paid for with $100 million in bonds. While the bill passed and wassigned by the governor, funding has been delayed un l an advisory commi ee submits a plan for itsimplementa on. Funding is expected in 2013.

Arkansas: In March 2011 Act 288 amended Arkansas Code 6-21-403 to include digital resources,alongside textbooks and other instruc onal materials purchased with state funds, to be madeavailable to students. 41

California: In May 2009 then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger implemented the Free DigitalTextbook Ini a ve, which called for submissions of free, OER textbooks for high school math andscience. The California Learning Resource Network coordinates the review of digital content foradherence to state standards.

Florida: The state has begun a ve-year transi on to digital instruc onal materials. By the 2015-2016 academic year, districts are required to be ready to expend at least half of their instruc onal

materials alloca on on state-adopted digital materials; districts retain exibility in how theyspend the remainder of their alloca ons. State legisla on also addresses mul ple aspects of thetransi on: development and implementa on of digital content for students in grades 6 through12; designa on of pilot programs for the transi on to digital content; and electronic review andevalua on of instruc onal materials meant for adop on (and even prohibits the submission of hardcopy samples). 42

Georgia: A er enac ng legisla on to allow schools to use textbook funds to purchase hardwareto support digital content, in 2010 the state of Georgia spent $13 million to begin pilots to test theuse of digital content. Legisla on was passed in 2012 to allow students to maximize online learning

I think there is tremendous value inestablishing pilot projects that spur innova on and help us be er understand the technological, social, and policy challenges that schools face as they transi on to digital content, Tammy McGraw, O ce of Educa onal Technology Director.
http://www.clrn.org/fdti/http://www.clrn.org/fdti/http://www.clrn.org/home/http://www.clrn.org/home/http://www.clrn.org/fdti/http://www.clrn.org/fdti/


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textbook funding sources to include those same materials. Along with eight other states, Illinoisis par cipa ng in a Shared Learning Collabora ve project to implement a systema c approach tocurriculum resource alignment with CCSS and focused on personalizing learning for students. Thegoal: to link instruc onal data to high-quality and diverse sets of curricular resources, so eachstudent gets what he or she needs most at that moment in me. 68

Iowa: Senate File 2178, signed into law on March 22, 2010, expands the de ni on of textbooksto include books, electronic materials and laptop computers, or other portable personal compu ngdevices. New policy has changed the de ni on of a textbook to include digital content and to allowtextbook funds to be used to purchase technology.

Louisiana: Since 1999, the state de ni on of textbook has included electronic media. However,with the passage of SB533 in 2010, the State Board of Educa on was directed to make every e ortto ensure that electronic versions are available for every tle it approves in the textbook adop onprocess. In addi on, the Department of Educa on was directed to clearly communicate its desireto increase the availability and accessibility of electronic textbooks and instruc onal materials. 45 In April 2012, dated policy language that speci es districts expend 90% of the state textbook alloca on on state approved material was removed (There has been no state textbook alloca on since 1992-1993). The policy change doesnt increase the amount of funding to local educa onagencies (LEAs), but it does empower local budgetary decisions through greater exibility inspending.

Maine: In 2002 the state started a comprehensive middle school 1-to-1 program; about 55 percentof high schools in the state were added in 2009. In 2011 related legisla on, Title 20-A, was passed,which accomplished two ends. First, it called for development of a program of technical assistance,including professional development and training, for educators to learn how to use online learningresources, including OER. Second, the law created a digital literacy fund for covering the expensesof developing online learning resources and building a new clearinghouse for informa on on theuse of online learning resources. 46

Maryland: State law recognizes the importance of high quality digital content for use in schools.The MDK12 Digital Library Program , a partnership of the State Department of Educa on with everyschool district in the state and about 100 nonpublic schools, nego ates statewide pricing for thepurchase of digital content to provide quality resources for students at all grade levels.

Nebraska: In mid-August 2012 the Department of Educa on launched the NeBook Project , apartnership of schools, state, and nonpro t agencies to create digital books, assess their quality,and share them through a new virtual library that will also host content from mul ple resources,

including PBS and the Na onal Archives . The digital books will be created on Apples iBook Authorfor viewing on the iPad; theyll also be available in PDF format. 47

New Mexico: HB 310, passed in 2011, requires publishers to provide instruc onal material in anelectronic format for e-readers, beginning with the 2013-2014 school year. 48

New York: Sec ons 701, 751, and 753 of New York State Educa on Law were amended for 2011-2012 to provide exibility in the use of instruc onal materials aids. These included textbooks,library materials, computer so ware, and instruc onal computer hardware. The new provisionsrst apply to 2011-2012 expenses for 2012-2013 aids. If a school district spends more than its
http://www.doleta.gov/taaccct/http://www.doe.state.la.us/http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/media/mdk12/http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/msdehttp://www.education.ne.gov/http://www.education.ne.gov/nebooks/http://www.archives.gov/http://www.archives.gov/http://www.education.ne.gov/nebooks/http://www.education.ne.gov/http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/msdehttp://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/media/mdk12/http://www.doe.state.la.us/http://www.doleta.gov/taaccct/


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maximum alloca on in any one of the areas, the excess expense over the maximum alloca on canbe designated as expense for aid in one or more of the other categories, even if the district didntactually make purchases in those categories. New York also has created Requests for Proposals forinstruc onal and professional development materials for Common Core-aligned English languagearts and Mathema cs content. In the RFP there is a preference for the materials to be licensedunder a Crea ve Commons license.

North Carolina: The state eLearning Commission in 2011 and 2012 put forth a set of recommenda ons to transi on to digital resources as the primary form of educa onal materials inK-12 schools over the next ve years, recommenda ons that have been approved by the governorand the State Board of Educa on. The Commission promoted star ng with math and Englishlanguage arts as part of the states move to the CCSS, including working with other states ondevelopment of OER. 49 The proposed plan builds upon the states commitment to building a K-12cloud computer infrastructure to support its digital ini a ves.

Ohio: The states administra ve code 3301-92-01 refers to textbooks and instruc onal materials,including instruc onal so ware and computer hardware. Code 3329.08 references textbooks andelectronic textbooks. In March 2011, HB 30 repealed a textbook set-aside fund requirementspeci ed in Sec on 3315.17 for its public schools. With the repeal, public districts are no longer

State K-12 Textbook Policy Innvovation

New Flexibility: Deni onal and/or Funding

Launched Digital Ini a ve

Launched OER Ini a ve


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A rst step is to include digital content asa part of the de ni on of instruc onal resources or textbooks.

required to have such a fund. Also, language in HB 153, which applies speci cally to nonpublicschools, was updated to encompass similar de ni ons and regula ons, including the term,electronic textbook.

Washington: The 2012 state legislature passed Engrossed Second Subs tute House Bill (E2SHB)2337, which provides $250,000 to the O ce of Superintendent of Public Instruc on (OSPI) related

to developing a library of high-quality, openly licensed K-12 educa onal courseware that is alignedwith the newly adopted CCSS for English language arts and mathema cs. 50

West Virginia: SB 631, passed in 2010, replaced the terms textbooks, instruc onal materials,and learning technologies with instruc onal resources and revised the de ni on to includedigital content. In 2011 the Department of Educa on implemented a two-year hiatus on thepurchase of social studies textbooks and reallocated the funds to educa onal technologyinfrastructure upgrades as part of a transi on to the use of digital content. 51

Lessons LearnedThese e orts di er in scope and detail, but they all encourage the movement to more digitalcontent in schools. A rst step is to include digital content as a part of the de ni on of instruc onalresources or textbooks. While minimal, thatstep is necessary. Other states have freed up thefunding mechanisms to include not only digitalcontent, but also the technology necessaryto take advantage of the digital resources, orotherwise provided greater exibility in the useof instruc onal materials funding. A handful of states focus on nding and leveraging OER. A fewstates have even larger visions that put digital content at the core of their e ort. In other words, acon nuum of policy steps exists on the way to fully embracing digital content.

Policy change can be ini ated from many places in the overall state educa onal structure. Thesestates pro led here, from very di erent regions of the country, are driving a strong push from printto digital content and, par cularly in the case of Utah, toward OER, yet there are di erences amongtheir e orts. One notable di erence is the impetus for the changes from a tradi onal approach toone that is more innova ve:

In Indiana, the change was ini ated by a State Board of Educa on unhappy with the socialstudies materials that had been proposed. The State Board changed the de ni on of a textbookto include digital content, allowed textbook funds to be used to purchase technology, andencouraged districts to use a waiver process to access that capability. The Superintendent

backed that e ort and even granted districts a blanket waiver. In Texas, the legislature has taken the lead in implemen ng changes since it rst revised the law

to allow digital content in 1987.

In Virginia, the Department of Educa on has taken the lead in many of the projects, althoughthe physics FlexBook was a joint project between the governors o ce and the Department of Educa on.

In Utah, the State O ce of Educa on has played a lead role, but it was based on the researchand leadership from a faculty member from Brigham Young University. 52
http://wvde.state.wv.us/boe/http://wvde.state.wv.us/boe/


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In all cases, the legislature has ul matelybacked the changes, either by changing thelaws to support the ini a ves or by fundingthemand many also have bene ted fromthe support of the governor. Indeed, thepoint being made here is that there is no one

best way to implement and drive change inthis area, but that state level leadership iscri cal for progress.

More important than the di erences are thesimilari es among these leading states andthe real lessons to be learned.

Strong state leadership As noted above,the impetus for change can come fromanywhere at the state level, but themessage of the desire and need forchange was strong in these states and coordinated among various branches.

A culture of innova on. Each of the states pro led is trying to foster a culture of innova onthrough di erent mechanisms. Virginia is seeding a variety of projects from school districts andworking with the private sector. Indiana is focusing on those districts willing to take risks so theycan go even further, helping people who are running fast run faster...

Increased exibility in funding. All states had an eye on funding and the most commonapproach for easing districts nancial burden was to provide greater exibility in how theyused their dollars. Also, as illustrated throughout the state thumbnail sketches, the exibilityin funding broadens the de ni on of textbooks to include digital content; many states allowdistricts to use textbook funds to purchase the technology needed to access the digitalcontent.

Increased exibility in content choice. Inmany states, the so-called adop on states,control of the primary materials used forinstruc on has rested at the state level. BothTexas and Indiana have changed their role toone similar to Utahs, producing an advisorylist that districts can use for advice but arent compelled to follow. (Although Indiana has notloosened the reins completely; reading content s ll must be state-approved for some schoolcorpora ons.)

Strong implementa on. In some cases, the best laid plans for policy go awry in implementa on.These states have taken extra steps to ensure that the policies passed at the state level getsupported so that theyre implemented at the local level. Texas and Indiana have both set upmechanisms for teachers and other innovators to share and support each other. In Indiana its aseries of calls, webinars, and professional learning networks. In Texas its leadership at the locallevel and a statewide, online community in Project Share.

SETDA to Launch StateEduca on Policy Center

In fall 2012, SETDA willlaunch the State Educa on

Policy Center (SEPC), adatabase of state policiesrelated to educ

setda out of print

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